Joseph merritt



J. MERRITT.

CONNECTING LINK AND PROCESS OF MAKING'SAME.

APPLICATION FILED JULY28, 190a. RENEWED FEB. 3.191s.

1,1 96,010, Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

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UNITED STATES PATENT orrcas JOSEPH MERRITT, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT,ASSIGNOR TO THE HARTFORD LOCK RING COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ACORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

CONNECTING-LINK AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 29, 191%.

Application filed July 28, 1908, Serial No. 445,756. Renewed February 3,1916. Serial No. 76,070.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrrr MERRITT, a citizen of the United States, andresident of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inConnecting-Links and Processes of Making the Same, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to an improved connecting link for chains,pendants, and various other attachments, and to an improved process ofmaking the same.

It may be employed for a great variety of purposes in different trades,for joining and articulating various forms of chains, lockets, pendants,snap hooks, swivels, pulls, handles, etc., in the jewelry, plumbing,hardware and other trades. One of its important advantages is that itmay be sold inopen or separable form and be permanently secured.

or fixed without being soldered, after being articulated with or betweenthe .parts which are to be joined by it.

Figure l of the drawings is a side view, and Fig. 2 is a sectional edgeview of one form of link made in accordance with this invention, showingit in its partly assembled open form. Fig. 3 is a sectional edge viewshowing the parts of Figs. 1 and 2 completed by closing the open side.Fig. 4: is a sectional edge view of the sheath member of Fig. 2, andFig. 5 is a sectional edge view of the core or inner ring member ofFigs. 1 and 2. Fig. 6 is a plan View, and Fig. 7 an edge view of a coreand sheath assembled, and open for the insertion of the objects to bejoined. Fig. Sis a plan view and Fig.9-a sectional edge view of amodified construction of the link. Fig. 10 is anedge View showing thelink of Fig. 9 after the sheath has been closed down. Figs. 11 and 12aresectional edge views of the sheath and core respectively of Figs. 8,9 and 10. Figs. 13 to 16 inclusive show an adaptation of the link ofFigs. 8 to 10 inclusive by which its parts may be secured together inmanufacture while leaving it in open position for receiving the rings orother parts to beconnected by it; after which the closing may .becompleted.

The link shown in Figs. l to 5 inclusive consists of an outer envelopor-sheath 1,and

an inner core or ring member 2. These :parts are orshould :be made ofthe metals and in the proportions best suited for their respecorrodcoiled into ring form, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5; or in spiral form,shown in Figs. Gand 7 and 16. The sheath may be made of sheet metal andbe punched and struck up by dies in various ways well known to sheetdiemakers and sheet metal workers. Or .they may be made from sheet metaldisposed in ribbon form now very common in the manufacture of articlesmade from sheet metal, the edges of the metal bemg turned over by meansof rolls or dies, as it is drawn from the spool or coil of metal ribbon.In the form shown in Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive, the sheath metal is formedso as to bring the longitudinal joint at the line 3 on the inner surfaceof the ring, while in the forms shown in the remaining figures the metalis left open toward one of the lateral or outer sides of the ring, so asto close together along the line19. These links may be initially made inflat or plane form, and opened for the insertion of the objects to bejoined by springing the ends apart sidewise to the position-of Fig. 7,or they may be initially made in the open form shown in that figure.

In the form of link shown in Fig. 7, and Figs. 13 to 16 inclusive, boththe sheath and the core may be initially made of a spiral contour. Aconvenient way of making them in this form is to wind the sheath and thecore either together or separately on suitable mandrels in a continuousspiral, which may then'be cut off at each convolution, thus producingspiral rings. 1 If wound separately the spiral core 7 may be wormed orscrewed into the spiral sheath 6, either before or after the cutting-offoperation. In any case .the individual cores and sheaths when made formshown in Fig. 7 to the plane or fiat form shown in Fig. 2. The core 7 isthen pushed around in its sheath, so as to bring the joint or openingbetween the ends of the core out of coincidence with the joint oropening between the ends of the sheath, these joints being preferablyplaced diametrically opposite to each other as shown in Fig. 1, althoughany non-coincident position will suffice. The link is then completed byclosing the edges of the sheath around the interior side of the ringfrom the posi tion shown in Fig. 2 to that shown in Fig. 3, which may bedone by spinning, or by means of dies, or in any convenient way,according to the facilities at hand, which may extend from a simple handfixture to a more complex and elaborate apparatus, according to the sizeof the work and the amount to be done.

In the form of link shown in Figs. 8 to 12 inclusive, the core 10 is ormay be similar to the cores shown in the previous figures. The sheath orenvelop member 11 is made open at the lateral side of the ring so thatthe core may be dropped into place from the side instead of beingtwisted or screwed in from either end. This sheath, like those shown inthe previous figures, may be punched out of sheet metal, or rolled froma metallic ribbon.

The sheath is first made in the form shown in Fig. 11, after which thewire core 10 is dropped in place as shown in Fig. 9, and the open sideis closed to the position shown in Fig. 10, by spinning or pressing itsopen edges together around the wire. In this case also the joint 12 isplaced out of coincidence with, and preferably opposite to the joint 13of the sheath, .as shown in Fig. 8.

The form of link-shown in Figs. 8 to 12 inclusive may be made at onceinto the flat annulus form shown in those figures, or the parts may bemade in spiral form as shown in Fig. 16, the sheath and the core beingwound in long spirals on suitable mandrels after the manner of a spiralspring, and then cut at each convolution to form the rings. The form oflink opening at its lateral side, as in Fig. 11, may be manufactured andsold in its partly completed form shown in Figs. 13 to 16 inclusive; andbe completed after being threaded into the links or other objects whichare to be joined together. In such a case the core 15 and the shell 16may advantageously be made and assembled in spiral form, as shown inFig. 16, with the joint 17' of the core out of coincidence with thejoint 18 of the shell and the open side closed partway around as shownin Figs. 13, 1 1 and 15, forming the longitudinal or annular seam 19.Left in this condition the link may be threaded into the rings, handles,or other objects 20 to be articulated together, after which the link isclosed by pressing the free end of the core into its seat in theadjacent end of the sheath 16 from the position shown in Fig. 16 to thatshown in Figs. 14 and 15, after which the open edges of the sheath maybe closed in any convenient way, extending the closed seam 19 entirelyaround the link.

As an additional means of securing the two parts of the link together,the core of any of the forms shown in the drawings may be provided witha spur or spurs 22, which, when the links are closed, cut correspondingdepressions in the inner wall of the sheath, as shown in Fig. 13. Thisarrangement still further secures the two parts of the link together,and particularly protects them from being separated by pulling actionupon the link. This improved link, and the process of making it, may befurther modified in various ways within the expected skill of the diemaker and sheetmetal workers to suit them for different purposes.

Although it will generally be found desirable to make the core andsheath members in open ring form, that is to say, having two endsbrought approximately together, as at 12 and 13 in Fig. 8-, yet it mayobviously be desirable, and quite feasible, to make either the core, orsheath, or both, without any such open ends, either by casting them, orpunching them from a sheet in the way washers are ordinarily made, or bymaking them first in open form and afterward soldering or otherwiseuniting the ends before closing the core and the sheath together. Alsothe sheath and its core may be soldered or sweated together, which stillfurther increases their security and solidity. In such cases the partsmay be tinned or flowed with a thin film of solder by the manufacturer,and put upon the market in that condition, so that it is only necessaryto heat the parts after putting them together, to a sufficient degree tomelt the solder, and thereby firmly solder as well as interlock them. Insuch cases the dies or other closing instrumentalities may be maintainedat a degree of heat sufiicient to melt the solder, so that the closingand soldering operations may be simultaneous, or nearly so.

This improved link is herein shown as being in annulus form. Obviously,however, it may be made of various other looped or irregular forms, forpurposes of design, or for utility, or for conformity to the parts to bejoined, as the case may be. The longitudinal seams of the sheaths may beupon the inner side, like the seam 3 of Fig. 3, or upon one of thelateral sides, like the seam 19 of Fig. 13, or upon the outer peripheralsurface of the sheath, or at any other intermediate portion, accordingto the various requirements. Although it is an important advantage ofthis ring that it may be permanently secured together without beingsoldered, yet it may be soldered where the conditions call for or permitof soldering.

I claim as my invention 1. The process of making an endless hnk, whichconsists in placing a two-ended looped core within a two-ended loopedopen-sided sheath, and closing the open side of the sheath around andsubstantially inclosing the core member, with the end joints of therespective members out of coincidence.

2. The process of forming a link, which consists in placing anopen-ended ring within an open-sided enveloping sheath, and closing theopen side of the enveloping sheath with substantial completeness aroundthe ring.

3. The process of forming an endless link, which consists in placing anopen-ended ring within an open-ended and open-sided enveloping sheath,with their respective ends out of coincidence, and closing the opensides of the sheath closely and with substantial completeness around thering.

4. The process of manufacturing endless links, which consists in forminga looped core member and a looped sheath in spiral contour, with thecore member partly within the sheath, and with their respectivejointsout of coincidence, then deforming the spiral to a plane condition, andclosing the open edges of the sheath closely and entirely around thecore member.

5. The process of making endless links, which consists in forming aninner ring member and outer sheath member in spiral contour, placing thering within the sheath with their respective joints out of coincidence,deforming the spiral into plane form, and closing the open side of thesheath with substantial completeness around the inner member.

6. The process of forming a blank suitable for closing into an endlesslink, which consists in placing an open-ended ring within a sheathhaving open ends and an open side, and closing a portion of the openside of the sheath closely around the ring, leaving one end of thesheath and one end of the ring overlapping but free from each other.

7. An endless link consisting of a looped core having approximatelyjoined ends, and

a looped sheath having approximately joined ends and joined longitudinaledges.

8. An endless link consisting of a core having approximately joinedends, a sheath having approximately joined ends and joined longitudinaledges, the joints of the core being out of coincidence with the joinedends of the sheath.

9. An endless link consisting of a looped core, and a sheath inclosingthe core and having approximately joined longitudinal edges.

10. An endless link consisting of a ringshaped core and a ring-shapedsheath closely enveloping the core, the edges of the sheath being joinedin a longitudinal seam extending around the link.

11. An endless link comprising a core having open ends approximatelyjoined, and a sheath made of sheet metal and wrapped around the corewith its edges joined to form a longitudinal seam extending lengthwisealong the core.

12. An open-ended blank for forming an endless link, consisting of anopen-ended looped core and an open-ended sheath, both disposed in spiralform and secured together with their respective open ends out ofcoincidence.

13. An open-ended blank for making endless links, consisting of a loopedcore, and a sheath enveloping the core, disposed in spiral form withtheir ends separated.

14. An open-ended blank for making an endless link, consisting of alooped core, and an open-sided sheath disposed in spiral form with openends overlapping and out of coincidence.

15. An open-sided blank for making an endless link, consisting of alooped core, and an open-sided sheath, each having open ends anddisposed in spiral form with their ends out of coincidence, a portion ofthe sheath being closed around the core to hold them together.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH MERRITT.

Witnesses:

D. B. WESTIN, FRANK M. MATHER.

Copies oi this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

